I haven’t watched more than an inning or three of any Red Sox game in nearly a week–and most I have not watched at all.

I am still reading about the team, and I check the scores frequently on-line and on my phone, but at this point, they are making me so fracking crazy, that I thought some time apart might help my perspective…

So, I thought I would share some random thoughts I have had in the last 7 days…

Holy hell, did we ever expect Clay Buchholz to be the staff ace of the Boston Red Sox? OK, maybe someday, but consistently better than Josh Beckett, and (gulp) Jon Lester? He made history last night striking out the side in the 6th inning of the ONLY WIN AGAINST THE OREOS ( Yeah, go back and read that again…) on–wait for it–NINE pitches…

Last member of the Red Sox to accomplish this feat? You might have heard of him: Pedro Martinez in 2002, against the Mariners…

Nice to know there is a bright spot SOMEWHERE in this season…Cody Ross, goes without saying…

I guess If I was a betting person, the only way I would be doing any MLB betting on Top Bet with regard to the Red Sox is perhaps how low will they go, both in the standing, and as a team..

My favorite quote this week with regard to the Sox “They are just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

Rob Bradford of WEEI brought up an interesting thought in his blog post yesterday: Who will want to be a Red Sox after all of this?

And he’s right. Remember in the 90’s and early 00’s, before the current ownership took over, when no one hung out with anyone else, Nomar had his red line of death, and it truly was “25 cabs for 25 players”? Then John Henry and Co. took over, (and actually gave a crap back then) and then something called Chemistry and Heart happened. Honestly, do you REALLY think that the Red Sox would have won in 2004, making history as the only team to ever come back from 0-3 to win a best of 7 series, without it?

Me either.

But now this team (at least in our perception–if you ask them, John Lackey is their spiritual leader, and everyone LOVES each other–Y.U.K..) just seems to arrogant, fragmented, and…ENTITLED…

Can you imagine Bill Mueller ever feeling entitled? Or Kevin Millar? Or Dave Roberts? Hell, even the Big Papi of 2004 was a different person…

And I know that when the culture of the Red Sox changed, they attracted players they never would have before–good citizens of the nation who wanted to play hard and win for the fans…

If I were a free agent, I wouldn’t want to play on this team–and it has nothing to do with Bobby Valentine…sorry folks, he is not MY scapegoat..

Of course, that doesn’t mean I think he is a completely BAD fit for this team–and probably won’t be back next year. But I think I can speak for a good number of people when I say “You HAD the great manager and you screwed it up–You now forfeit your right to bitch”

And you know things are bad when Don Orsillo and Rem Dawg start getting snarky–during one of my rare Red Sox innings I caught this week, they were talking about the fact that David Ortiz is doing better–but he cannot run forward– and DO started going on about how, well, he can’t run backwards, or run in zig zags, so running forward is a pretty big deal. I am paraphrasing like hell, but you get the point–it actually made me laugh out loud–and it also made me sad…

Speaking of Big Papi, apparently after MORE rest, he started some soft toss and will go from there–still no timetable for his return…I cannot WAIT to see if he starts whining about “lack of respect” and money after this…I know he cannot help being hurt…BUT…

So the PTBNL for Kelly Shoppach to the Mets, has been named: Minor Leaguer Pedro Beato. Yeah, me either. A no-named minor league pitcher for a legitimate major league catcher. A relief pitcher who has pitched 4.1 innings in 9 appearances in the bigs this year, and has a 10.38 ERA . Brilliant, Ben…

And, in another brilliant move, to free up a roster spot for Beano–er, Beato, the Sox have released Mark Prior. The same Mark Prior who had a 1-0 record with a 3.96 ERA in 25+ innings of work in Pawtucket. He also had 38 strikeouts, and 23 walks, but held batters to a .172 average. But they continued to trot Aaron Cook out to start…

Holy Hell, I am having flashbacks to last year when they stupidly let Kevin Millwood go…

So this what September 2011 feels like–when it lasts 5 months…

And currently, the Sox are playing the Skanks in a 3 game series (Bet Terry Francona will not be seen talking to any players THIS time…) and its the top of the 9th inning, and the Sox are down 6-4…

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Morales gave up four, count ’em, FOUR homers tonight…

One Response to “August 17, 2012: Random Red Thoughts”

This was awesome, I’m sitting here smiling at you, Cori! Oh wait, my webcam is off…well, you can imagine!! What an amazing shout-out, and you KNOW how much fun I have visiting here…and how bummed I was to lose your feed for a week!! Thank you so much, and how funny about your little sister, too!And yeah, still haven’t done my homework! Looking for a dunce cap to sit in the corner over at Gi8;1#82&7is&#g230;.